Greg Dodd lives in Columbia, South Carolina with his wife, Caroline, and their Anatolian Shepherd, Desmond. He earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of South Carolina. Greg’s other published works include contributions to the anthologiesPrecious, Precocious Moments (compiled by Yvonne Lehman) andBirds of Passage (compiled by Diogenes Ruiz). Greg and Caroline are active in their church and enjoy vacationing on Pawleys Island.

The book A Seed for the Harvest explores the meaning and purpose of Christian faith. Within its pages, Greg Dodd tells a powerful, challenging story full of diverse, engaging characters whose lives are woven together through times of innocence, depravity, joy, and heartbreak.

Greg’s second work of Christian fiction is a 2017 CIPA EVVY Award winner in the Humor category and a 2017 Red City Review Award winner in the Spiritual/Christina category. The Gills Creek Five brings a comic blend of characters into one setting for a most unusual men’s study group. Written in classic stage play format, it’s a humorous story of personal discovery and renewal.

What book have you gifted the most? Why? I gave away about 70 copies of A Seed for the Harvest. It being my first novel, I was hungrier for readers than sales. I believe in the book’s message; whether I make any money from it has always been a secondary concern. And while I believe people are more likely to read a book they paid to own, I still hear from those freebee recipients, who (after 3 years) say, “Hey, I finally got around to reading your book. I’m really enjoying it.” That’s all I’m after.

What is the one productivity tool you use every day? An alarm clock. Why? For whatever reason, my best and most creative story ideas come between the hours of 5:00 and 7:00 in the morning. After that, I get lost in the day.

What word do you misspell most often? It’s a tie between excersize and suprise.

What three things do you do to be a successful writer? (1) I write. (2) I read what I write. (3) I rewrite what I wrote.

What are the titles of the last two books you have read? I can name many books I’ve read recently, but if you’re asking me to name the last two I’ve finished, that may prove more difficult. I refuse to read from the current best seller lists, for fear of becoming like everyone else. So I’m always looking out for that obscure novel no one has ever heard of, hoping it will be an amazing, secret discovery just for me. But it usually takes only a few chapters, if that, to realize why no one has ever heard of it.

What is your favorite word? Um…

What do you use more often – a dictionary or a thesaurus? I find that when choosing from the vast lexicon of words which comprise my ubiquitous – albeit finite – vocabulary, I prefer the capacious prospects afforded me by every author’s comrade, the thesaurus.

What would you name the autobiography of your life? “Is it over, yet?”

What is your ‘go to’ munchie or drink while writing? A bowl of chocolate Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, chased down by a cold can of Diet Mt. Dew.

Is a picture worth a thousand words? No. Elaborate. If it takes a thousand words to describe a picture, you’re trying too hard. Our brains don’t process all of what we see in a picture, anyway. So why try and force unwanted, unnecessary information upon a reader? The trick of writing is to be descriptive in as few words as possible and let the reader’s mind create a picture of their own. Well-chosen words plant the seeds of imagination. That’s the job of a writer.

What animal are you most similar to and why? I’m not sure if my dog is like me, or if I’m just subconsciously performing some personality mirroring of him. Either way, we’re very much the same. For example, we’re both entitled (I didn’t want to include that, but he insisted), insistent, habitual and annoyingly indifferent at times. We love to play hard but loathe intentional exercise. We love dogs (people are OK, too), hate cats, snore, assume people are mind-readers (or at least they should be), and are supposedly protective, but would welcome a total stranger into the house.

How would your best friend describe you? See my answer to number 11.

What keeps you up at night? (and don’t say howling dogs) How about snoring dogs? That and a slow drip in the toilet down the hall. I really need to get that fixed.

What is one thing you will never do again? I’ve made many such promises and broken every one of them. So, this time, I promise to never say I will never do something again. I promise.

If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare? A list of restaurants.

What is the best compliment you have received? “Your book renewed my faith in God.” A distant second was the time someone said I looked like a young Warren Beatty. That was 36 years ago. Now I’m waiting for someone to say, “You look like an old Warren Beatty.”

What question do you wish people wouldn’t ask? “Is this an autobiography?” For the last time – it’s fiction. Seriously. I mean, did people ask John Steinbeck if he were George Milton in Of Mice and Men? OK, bad example. But still, just because I drive the same kind of car as my main character, have the same kind of dog, enjoy vacationing at the same beach and have the same bowl of fake red apples in my kitchen does not mean I based the character on me. It says right there on the copyright page, it’s purely coincidental.

What would you sing at Karaoke night? I have sung at Karaoke night and, fortunately, it was long before cell phones and YouTube. But I performed a stirring rendition of “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine” by Lou Rawls. That’s when I learned why stage performers have bright lights shining in their faces; they prevent you from seeing the mortified faces staring back at you.

If you had a warning label, what would yours say? Not a flying toy.

What is the one question you wished I would have asked you?Why? I was hoping you would ask me that. I suppose I would like to have been asked, “Greg, if, by some strange coincidence, you happened to stumble upon someone sitting on the beach reading one of your books, what would you say to them?” Because then I would say, “I’m glad you asked, Pat. I would walk right up to them, introduce myself and say, ‘I promise that book is not about me.’”

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